Royals and Renegades (tfp Wheeljack X Mech!reader) [On Hold]

5: A chase

A/N slight redesign of Y/D! Still fab vibes.
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When I awoke from my recharge, I sat uo and stretched with a satisfying pop of my joints, the sound alerting Wheeljack from the pilot's seat.

"Hey kid, you recharge, okay?" He asked as I made my way over to the co-pilot seat.

"Aside from the nightmare i... I suppose so." I said sheepishly. "I um, should apologize for my behavior, and um... thank you for helping me calm down."

"There's nothing to apologize for Y/D." Wheeljack said. "You've clearly been through Pits and back. The least I could do to make you feel better was offer a shoulder to cry on."

"I... thank-you." I said with a small smile before turning my attention to the monitors. "So how far are we from the meeting point?"

"Not far. While you were in recharge, i found a space bridge and got quite a jump. Hopefully, we will be there within an hour or two."

"Can... can you tell me more about Seaspray?" I asked like a curious sparkling.

"Old Seaspray is from Ky-Alexia, spent most of his life before the war as a dock worker for shipments on the Mithric Sea, and as far as I'm aware has always been a salty seadog."

"Was he the one who hijacked a Decepticon sea cruiser and used it to sneak a bunch of Autobots into the Kaon Ports?"

"Yep, and the 'cons had no idea what hit em until we all jumped out and charged the port."

"Brilliant!" I said with excitement in my voice and awestruck optics. "Were you part of the fight?"

"Yep! Bulkhead and I were one of the first ones to hop out! You should have seen the looks on those Decepticons' faces when instead of reinforcements, they got the Wreckers!"

"I would hate being on the receiving end of that stick!" I laughed.

Wheeljack would continue to tell me various stories about the Wreckers, and I was completely captivated by them. He then told me of the time a Decepticon tried to impersonate him and infiltrate the Autobot base on a planet called earth only for Bulkhead to see through the faker and the pair of them bashed him back to Starscream.

"This planet, you said it's called Earth?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah. It's a pretty little blue marble with a bunch of organic life. Didn't get to see too much of it before I went searching for other Autobots. Maybe after we meet up with Seaspray, we can head in that direction."

"As um... as long as we don't run into the Prime." I said nervously.

"Eh? Why?" Wheeljack asked suspiciously.

"He's met my creators and... the conversation did not go well. I don't want him to think I share the same sort of attitude." This was only part of the truth, but Wheeljack did not need to know that.

"Who even were your creators?"

"They were political leaders." I said carefully. "Optimus, at the time known as Orion, wanted them to convince Vos to side with the Autobots, but they refused."

-flashback-

"Siwer? Who dat?" I asked as I waddled along with my creators while chewing on my digits.

"Hush Y/D, and quit biting your digits. It's not prince like." My carrier snipped. "You must remain quiet when we speak to these individuals. This will be a lesson for you." Reluctantly, I complied and kept quiet as we approached the red and blue grounder, my optics curiously studying him. I had never seen a bot without wings, so the experience was quite strange. With the grounder was another bot I didn't recognize, this one far older and wiser and again with no wings. I shied away and hid behind my creators, hoping that the strange bots wouldn't notice me.

"Orion Pax, Alpha Trion," my sire said. "What business do you have with us? Your message was fairly vague."

"We have reason to believe that Vos may be a target for the Decepticons." Orion said.

"Decetwicons?" I asked while poking my tiny helm around my sire's leg.

"Hush Y/D. This is a grown-up conversation." My carrier said before returning her attention to the pair. "Please forgive him. His caretaker is currently out on business and is too young to be left alone."

"It's quite alright." Alpha Trion said with a small chuckle.

"Can I ask a qwestion?" I asked politely.

"Y/D -" my sire started to say before Orion knelt down and nodded to me.

"What is your question, little one?" Orion said.

"Are Decetwicons bad?" I asked. "Dey sound scawy."

"They are, but we hope you never have to see one." Orion said.

"What... what do we do when we see wone?"

"You find your creators and tell them, okay?" Orion gave me a small smile, and I beamed at him.

"My liege, my lady." Jetfire said as he entered the hall. "Forgive me for my absence. I was held up by Starscream again."

"I will have to have a word with him." My carrier said. "Please, take Y/D to continue his studies, he shouldnt be present for this conversation."

"Yes, my lady." Jetfire gently picked me up, and I looked over to the strange bots and waved at them.

"Bye-bye Awfwa Twion! Bye-bye, Owion Pwax! Nice to meet you!"

-end flashback-

"Did they ever say why they refused?" Wheeljack asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"In truth? I do not know. Probably something to do with Vos's neutrality status." We then got an alert notifying that we were closing in on Seaspray's ship where it eventually came into view. But something felt off about it.

I tried to ignore it as we closed in and just as Wheeljack was about to open a hailing frequency the ship became engulfed in a fiery explosion, the impact flinging the Jackhammer back and causing us to tumble about inside. I ended up slamming hard against a wall, knocking the air clean out of my vents while Wheeljack struggled to regain control of the Jackhammer.

Once he did, I slid down the wall and to my aft, tiny and desperate gasps, leaving me followed by choking coughs.

"You okay, kid?" Wheeljack asked me with concern.

"Just Hah, h-had the.... the wind knocked out of me." I panted heavily, eventually standing after catching my breath. "What... what was that?"

"I don't know." Wheeljack said grimly, both of us looking up at the decimated shrapnel of Seaspray's ship. "No... not... not Seaspray."

"I'm sorry, Wheeljack." I said softly as I placed a gentle servo on his shoulder. We then saw a ship dart by the debris, and I instantly felt my spark drop to my tanks. "Wheeljack. We need to go." As I said this, the other ship opened fire, and I quickly dove to the weapons array and fired back, Wheeljack glaring angrily at the ship as he maneuvered us.

"Is that the bastard who killed him?!" Wheeljack snapped angrily. "Is he responsible for this?!"

"He has a name, and it's Dreadwing. One of Megatron's most loyal soldiers." I said flatly. "Wheeljack, barrel roll right. We need to outrun him!"

"Oh no, we aren't! Wreckers don't run from fights." Wheeljack growled as Dreadwing shot away in a retreat. "They charge head first. We are going after that Decepticon, and we are going to avenge Seaspray."